In what could provide a big boost to Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Trinamool Congress looked all set to sweep the three-tier panchayat elections. The left Front had to eat the humble pie as Trinamool Congress was way ahead in 11 out of 17 districts that went to poll for more than 58,000 panchayat seats.
If the current trend was any indication then the ruling party would comfortably gain control of 11 district boards by Tuesday morning experts said. The party had won two districts of South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore in 2008 polls when the Congress had bagged Malda and North Dinajpur. The left had bagged 13 districts.
Monday's results saw the Trinamool winning about 65-70 per cent seats while the left managed about 20 per cent. Congress got just 7 per cent.The election results were also interesting in the sense that they threw up numerous hung houses. For instance, in Malda there were 52 such gram sabhas while in North 24 Parganas, Nadia and Birbhum there were 41, 25 and 26 respectively.
The Chief Minister gave out a controlled response, "thanking maa maati manush for our stupendous win." She went on to say "the people of Bengal once again proved that they back nothing but democracy. We have faith in the people and they will continue to back us like this in future also."
On the fate of hung houses a confident Banerjee said: "Trinamool will play an important role in the areas where there are hung gram panchayats."Experts say the poll results would enhance the Trinamool's bargaining capacity in the general elections.
Fighting without an ally in more than a decade, the TMC uprooted the Marxists from Burdwan, bagging 145 gram panchayats as against the left's 27 and the Congress' four.
The CPI(M) faired more miserably in West and East Midnapore conceding 260 and 121 gram panchayats to the ruling outfit. The Marxists won only 19 and 24 gram sabhas while the Congress bagged four and two respectively.
The other two districts where the Trinamool did exceptionally well were Birbhum and Bankura where it won 95 and 143 gram panchayats respectively leaving 34 and 27 for the left.
The result for Purulia was equally disheartening for the left as it conceded 104 panchayats to the Trinamool winning only 22. For Hooghly the result was 158 panchayats for Trinamool, 35 for the left and seven for the Congress.
In North Bengal, not its traditional support zone the Trinamool ousted the left from Coochbehar winning 86 panchayats while the Marxists won only 29 and the Congress four.
The Congress on its part, stoutly defended its stronghold of Murshidabad the home ground of Junior Railway Minister Adhir Chowdhury winning 126 gram panchayats in a neck and neck fight with the left that won 102 gram sabhas, The Trinamool won 6 sabhas.
The party barely managed to hold some ground in its other strongholds of North Dinajpur and Malda which as well saw close contests with the left. The Congress remained ahead in Malda winning 41 panchayats. The left won 40 sabhas and the Trinamool won 11 houses. In North Dinajpur the Congress won 34 sabhas while the left bagged 48. Trinamool won 14 houses.
Apart from Malda and North Dinajpur the left got a huge win in Jalpaiguri where it bagged 96 panchayats. The Trinamool won 16 and Congress nine.
If the panchayat election results had a lot for the Trinamool to smile it could also leave a creased forehead insofar as three south Bengal districts of North and South 24 Parganas and Nadia are concerned. In North 24 Parganas the Trinamool won 99 sabhas while the left got 59 reviving about 24 per cent seats from what it got in 2008 and about 40 per cent seats from its results in 2011.
In South 24 Parganas the Trinamool won 95 houses whereas the left won 53 leaving the impression that Saradha scam had played its role in the districts. "We will see the reasons as to how and why the left revived so many seats in these two districts" Trinamool leader Jyoti Priya Mallick said.
Similarly in Nadia district a Congress-Trinamool belt the left did well winning 63 panchayats while the Trinamool won 83. The Congress won 14.
Curiously the left tended to fare very poorly in areas like West Midnapore, Hooghly, Bankura where it was charged with perpetrating violence during the Marxist regime. Curiously as well the left had done better in Nandigram winning three sabhas and Singur where it won two out of 15 sabhas.
Though the results for panchayat samitis and district boards had just started to trickle in the preliminary results showed the left doing well in Nadia, South 24 Parganas, State Election Commission Sources said.
The high-profile Panchayat elections in Bengal took place after a prolonged electoral battle that saw deployment of Central forces. However, the polls saw massive violence with about 35 deaths during the election days and about 70 deaths from when the elections were declared.